Sale of St Kilda Rooming House

Launch Housing has made a difficult decision to sell its Princes Street rooming house so that it could build more social housing and is working closely with each of the eleven affected residents to find them appropriate alternative housing.

Each resident has been allocated an expert and experienced case manager who is supporting them with their transition.  Importantly, we are following the relevant Rooming House closure protocol that exists to support actions of this kind. Those protocols include working with housing partners in the area to identify vacancies and to find and transition residents to a new home. A number of community housing providers have also closed rooming houses in recent year, as part of a shift to offer more modern and safer accommodation.

All of the sale proceeds will go to building more homes. Homelessness in Melbourne is constantly evolving and we must continue to be flexible and to invest in new housing options for people, ensuring we maximise the number of people we can support and the quality of housing we provide.

Growing Melbourne’s social and affordable housing stock remains a high priority for Launch Housing as significant shortages across the state continue to keep people trapped in insecure housing. In the meantime and on a daily basis, we are working carefully with affected individuals and remain optimistic we will transition each of them into appropriate housing.